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Introduces a series of articles on the history of India.

The paper first situates the trade carried on by private European traders in the overall framework of the Indian Ocean trade in the early-modern period. It then discusses in some detail the trading network of private English merchants in the Western Indian Ocean with special reference to the Surat-Mocha link in the 1720s and the 1730s. The evidence base is provided mainly by the private papers of Sir Robert Cowan, governor of Bombay between 1729 and 1734 and a major English private trader, operating in collaboration with Henry Lowther, chief of the English factory at Surat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased complexity in the current business environment connected with the globalisation of economies and rapid technological developments makes firms depend on innovation and, in the process, develop dense networks of relationships, making collaboration an essential requisite for innovation. Thus, collaboration develops based on complex social networks from which innovation emerges. From this perspective, collaboration takes a systematic approach, where social relationships are crucial. This article describes the innovation behaviour of firms operating in India and introduces collaboration as a system drawing from the systems theory and triple helix innovation model. The results of the mixed methods study conducted pointed toward a fragile collaboration framework. Triangulation was employed to provide a deeper understanding. Furthermore, limited understanding of collaboration as a social system has constrained social interactions, leading to limited knowledge production, application, and knowledge sharing, with technological development and innovation delays. The article lists crucial factors from the perspectives of industry and academia to foster a collaboration framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the nature and determinants of product innovation for food and agribusiness firms in India. The study is based on the World Bank's Enterprise Survey and the India Innovation Follow-up Survey from 2014. These surveys included 294 Indian food and agribusiness firms operating in different regions of the country. Simple statistical tools, such as chi-square test and logistic regression, are used for analyzing the raw data. It is evident from the analysis that there is a significant difference in the adoption of product innovations across enterprise sizes. Product innovation is more prominent in large enterprises than small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). Results of regression analysis indicate that product innovation in SMEs is more likely to be influenced by a variety of internal, collaborative, and external factors. The findings of the study suggest that SMEs should diversify their product innovations to include new inputs, improved product features, and enhanced technologies to strengthen their place in the market. This research is valuable because there is limited evidence on the nature and determinants of product innovation in food and agribusiness SMEs of emerging economies like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper Indocandona nagarjuna sp. n. is described. It was collected from a bore-well in southeastern India. This is only the second representative of the genus and the third stygobiont ostracode species described from India. The new species has many clear morphological differences compared with the type species of the genus, the most important ones being a much reduced caudal ramus and extremely elongated fingers on the prehensile palps. The position of the new species in the genus, as well as that of the genus Indocandona Gupta, 1984 in the tribe Trapezicandonini and its adaptation to subterranean waters, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on the early-modern Asian commercial world, the lack of historical longevity of mercantile wealth has been accepted as a major attribute. This paper establishes that some merchant families of Surat did experience longevity and family fortunes were kept up for five or six generations. It analyzes the institutional dimensions of trade and examines the ways in which these merchants articulated commercial strategies to ensure a long span of their family businesses. The paper demonstrates that fortunes were built and sustained primarily through trade and that the association with the European Companies was an important but additional means of achieving commercial affluence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the composition, social organization and wide range of activities of the Indian maritime merchant of the early modern period. Regional contrasts between Gujarat, the Coromandel coast and Bengal are discussed. The last section of the paper discusses the interaction between the Indian maritime merchants and the Europeans, both the corporate enterprises as well as private traders. It is argued that the Indian merchants displayed a remarkable degree of adaptiveness and resilience and refused to be overwhelmed by the competition provided by the Europeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious environmentalists argue that religious traditions teach that the Earth is sacred and that this has traditionally served to exert control over how people interact with the natural world. However, while the recognition of "bio-divinity" is a feature of many religious traditions, including Hinduism, this is to be distinguished from religious environmentalism which involves the conscious application of religious ideas to modern concerns about the global environment. Religious environmentalism is a post-materialist environmental philosophy that has emerged from the West and has its roots in the eighteenth century European "Romantic Movement." Using the example of sacred grove preservation in India, this paper assesses the extent to which claims that Hinduism is environmentally friendly are the product of an elite middle-class environmentalist ideology and hence of little relevance to the majority of Hindus. However, the fact that discourses about sacred grove preservation have become common within discussions about the conservation of biodiversity in India might suggest that religious environmentalism does have a broader relevance. While religious institutions have, on the whole, paid little attention to environmental issues in India, one area where ecological causes have made an impact is within Hindu nationalist groups such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). This paper concludes with a discussion of the similarities between the historicist strategies of the Hindu Right and religious environmentalism, and discusses the anti-Tehri dam campaign where representatives of both have been involved in protest activity to protect the River Ganges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian government recently resumed the construction of the Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River just 1 km north of Bangladesh's north-eastern border. The construction work was stalled in March 2007 in the wake of massive protests from within and outside India. Experts have argued that the Dam, when completed, would cause colossal disasters to Bangladesh and India, with the former being vastly affected: the Dam would virtually dry up the Surma and Kushiara, two important rivers for Bangladesh. Therefore, this controversial Dam project has generated immense public discontents leading to wider mass-movements in Bangladesh, India, and around the world. The movement has taken various forms, ranging from simple protests to a submission of a petition to the United Nations. Drawing on the 'environmentalism of the poor' as a conceptual metaphor, the article examines this global movement to show how environmental resistance against the Tipaimukh Dam has transcended national borders and taken on a transnational form by examining such questions as: who is protesting, why, in what ways, and with what effects. In order to elucidate the impending social and ecological impacts, which would potentially disrupt communities in South Asia, the paper offers some pragmatic policy recommendations that also seek to augment social mobility in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores climate change induced hydro hazards and its impact on tribal communities in Majuli (largest river island of Brahmaputra River Basin). The island has been experiencing recurrent floods, erosion, and siltation, which has distressed the socio-economic foundation and livelihood of the Mishing—a indigenous community on Northeast India, leading to out migration from the island. The indicators selected to capture the vulnerability of the island to climate change are dependency ratio; occurrence of natural hazards (floods) and coping methods; income of the household; and livelihood diversification. To gather the quantitative and qualitative data on these parameters the methods was designed to conduct both sample survey of households and focus group discussions. The findings reveal that in the selected villages, the dependency ratio is 4 (dependents): 1 (earning member); average income of the household is low i.e. $ 40/month and is declining as compared to last few years because of frequent floods, erosion and siltation that has decreased farm productivity which is the main source of income. The impact of changing climate and heightened flood and erosion risk to farmlands has been forced migration to cities and neighboring urban centers like Jorhar for stable livelihood. Therefore, we propose that a possible way to enhance social resilience to changing climate and vagaries of monsoon (tropical disturbances) is to promote alternative occupation like eco-tourism as (Majuli is the center of Vaisnavism and Satras in Northeast India) and invest in adaptive strategies to mitigate flood by incorporating lay and place-based knowledge of the Mishing community in flood management. Also facilitate community's participation and awareness towards hydro hazards based on flood proof housing focusing on indigenous knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

India's position in the Great Divergence debate has remained tentative due to scanty data availability for the medieval and early modern periods. In the years 1800-01, Dr. Francis Buchanan conducted one of the first agricultural surveys in the erstwhile state of Mysore and its adjoining regions. His Journey contains a wealth of information, both quantitative and qualitative, which has not been studied systematically so far. This paper brings together the information scattered throughout his report to construct an aggregate welfare ratio in order to ascertain the overall living standard in Mysore at the turn of the nineteenth century, the eve of colonial intervention in the state. The results from this study have interesting and important implications for the Great Divergence debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders the concept of “syncretism,” and identifies its range and implications when applied to the analysis of the saintly cult of the Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. The mausoleum of Manamohan Datta (1877–1909) is situated in what is currently eastern Bangladesh. Both Hindus and Muslims in the area join together in the various rituals held at the mausoleum. The article discusses the social and cultural factors that explain the sharing of rituals and beliefs by these people. In particular, word correspondences in the religious vocabulary facilitates the mutual acceptance of different cultural forms and norms. The article also examines the critical discourses on syncretistic situations related to the mausoleum in the context of contemporary Bangladesh. Finally, the article discusses the usefulness of the concept of syncretism in elucidating the social and cultural conditions which make possible religious pluralism and multiple discourses. The article opens with a literature review and a statement of the problems. This is followed by a brief history of Saint Manomohan and a description of the ritual practices at the mausoleum. The pluralistic structure of these practices is then examined, and the conditions for acceptance of pluralistic practices are discussed with reference to the critical discourses conducted by the local population. The findings are summed up in a conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discovery of clay-sealings and clay-tablets' hoards in ancient sites from the Mediterranean countries to the Indian Subcontinent enriched the acquired knowledge on seal impressions. Excavations brought to light new statistic and extrinsic data: the need of a complex analysis of the seal impressions is the direct consequence of the increased information and a new approach has been defined during specific studies. The current trend is to discriminate between intrinsic and extrinsic data by defining the different levels of information. The aim of this paper is to point by selected examples to the results of some recent works and to focus on the new multi-level approach to the study of seal impressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Through a case study of the artisanate in eighteenth-century Jodhpur, this paper explores the multiple identities among craft groups. It probes the matrix of factors that crystallised caste rather than class identities and solidarities, and enabled collective actions by craft castes in defence of their interests. It displays, however, that different contexts brought forth diverse forms of caste politics, and that behaving as unified blocs was as common as occasions that demonstrated fissures in caste identities. It therefore argues that multiple identities of individual craftsmen resulted in their perusal of heterogeneous competing agendas crosscutting caste and class affiliations. The paper thereby points to the contested character of all such aggregations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present essay examines information on the relationship of provincial settlements in the territories of the Dehli Sultanate with the capital city during the fourteenth century. This is drawn mainly from hagiographical sources in Persian rather than the much-utilized series of chronicles compiled in the city of Dehli itself. After a brief discussion of some of the factors of continuity and change operative in the fourteenth century in the territories of the Dehli Sultanate, it turns to a series of case studies, where evidence is available, of the processes of settlement of Muslim communities under the aegis of the Sultans of Dehli and in a radius extending from the capital city in northern India. The main routes of extension were to the south and to the east. Evidence suggests a process of growth of provincial centers of power to the detriment of the authority of the Sultan and the administration lodged in the capital city before the collapse of this authority in 1398. The latter part of the paper examines the linguistic consequences of the provincial political developments of the fourteenth century. It is argued that these affected changes in North Indian climates of sensibility that have endured to the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to examine the emergence and significance of the word Hindu (and associated terminology) in discourse about India, in order to determine the light it sheds on what is currently happening in India. It concludes that the word, and its derivatives, contain a series of semantic bivalences characterised by unresolved tensions, and further that these tensions help account for the complexities generated by the induction of the word Hindu (and associated terminology) in modern Indian political discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Orientalist conceptions on pre-colonial social formations in India as static are reviewed. New studies argue that social mobility occurs in the context of caste-oriented structures. Based on epigraphic and literary sources and kulapurāna (caste myths) concerning the community of oil producers of medieval times known by the caste name Teliki, this paper shows trends for upward mobility from śūdra varna to ksatriya varna. In the case of the peasant-warrior communities (sat śūdras), brāhmins and, in tribal communities, the temples/sectarian leaders acted as the legitimisers. For the Telikis, however, an asat śūdra community, political powers facilitated the process of upward mobility. By observing certain symbolic actions, which are ritually accepted as pure and high, the Telikis tried to sustain their identity. Les conceptions orientalistes qui présentent les structures sociales pré-coloniales en Inde comme des formations immuables sont actuellement révisées. De nouvelles études avancent que la mobilité sociale existe dans le contexte de structures de caste. Fondé sur l'exploitation de sources épigraphiques, littéraires et des kulapurāna (les mythes de caste) portant sur la communauté des producteurs d'huile au Moyen Age connue sous le nom de caste Teliki, cet article met en lumière des tendances vers une amélioration du rang social du śūdra varna au ksatriya varna. Dans le cas des communautés de paysans-guerriers (sat śūdras), les brahmanes et dans celui des communautés tribales, les temples/les dirigeants sectaires assuraient la légitimité. Toutefois, dans le cas des Telikis, une communauté asat/śūdra, les pouvoirs politiques facilitaient un processus d'ascension sociale. De plus, les Telikis, en observant certains actes symboliques considérés rituellement comme purs et élevés, tentaient de maintenir leur identité. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sa'id Sarmad's dargah (saint's tomb) dominates the entryway to Delhi's imposing Jama Masjid. But Sarmad was a Jew, both by birth and affirmation. He was also, according to his Rubaiyat, "a follower of the Furqan (i.e., a Sufi), a (Catholic) priest, a (Buddhist) monk, a Jewish rabbi, an infidel, and a Muslim." Indeed, it is hard to imagine a mystic with a more complex confessional identity. This paper explores both Sarmad's apparently contradictory religious self-identification and the complex religious context which Sarmad found in seventeenth-century North India. It will trace Sarmad's spiritual path as it meandered between Judaism, Islam and Hinduism, as recorded in his poetry and in the hagiographical (taskira) traditions which surround him, and will contribute to the discussion of the relationship between the mystic and his or her religion of birth or adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the diverse types of merchants active in India during the first half of the second millennium, the ship-owning merchants occupy a prominent position in the coastal areas of western India (especially at ports). These merchants are given distinct epithets nakhuda and nauvittaka, the two terms being occasionally used as interchangeable ones and also in their abbreviated forms in official documents. Known from the medieval Jewish letters of 'India Traders', copper plates, a bilingual inscription, Arabic accounts and epitaphs and Jaina carita (biographical) texts, nakudas and nauvittkas of different religious leanings (Jewish, Muslim and Hindu) illustrate remarkable co-operation and social amity and religious toleration, which underline their importance in the Indian Ocean maritime network prior to AD 1500. Possessing considerable wealth, these ship-owning merchants can be considered as elites in the ports of coastal western India and were also known for their patronage to religious and cultural activities. The paper is presented as a tribute to the memory of Professor Ashin Das Gupta who immensely enlightened us on the ship-owners of coastal western India between 1500-1800. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses India's agrarian crisis and the role of corporate-led contract farming in addressing these crisis. A two-stage Heckman model was used to explain determinants of participation in contract farming, and whether participation in contract farming affects farm income. The results indicate that contract farming has a positive impact on crop productivity and farm income. The socio-economic factors that influenced participation in contract farming were education, age, farm size, access to institutional credit, source of off-farm income and membership to an organization. Factors related to the likelihood of participation in contract farming slightly differed from the factors affecting farm income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the intense competition between Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605)—the effective founder of the Mughal Empire in India—and his Kabul-based half-brother, Mirza Hakim (d. 1585). A focus on this rivalry serves to highlight the critical but historically unacknowledged role played by Mirza Hakim in shaping the trajectory of Akbar's reign and also that of the Mughal Empire in India. It is also intended to underline the continued significance of connective links between Central Asia and South Asia decades after the founding of the Mughal Empire in 1526. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decade the Indian chickpea industry underwent a dramatic structural shift following the implementation of market-oriented policies by the Government of India. This paper examines consumer attitudes to quality characteristics of chickpea in India. A linear hedonic price model is estimated using auction price and quality data of chickpea samples obtained from major markets in India. Empirical results indicate that specific physical quality characteristics and purity standards are important factors influencing the price of chickpea in India. Thus, there may be an incentive for domestic producers and sellers of chickpea—and exporting countries—to improve the quality of their product, if improvements in specific physical characteristics and purity can be obtained cost effectively. As trade prospects grow for regionally important food crops like chickpea and other pulses, it is essential that food managers, commodity exporters, and crop breeders have access to critical market information in order to assess the relative economic importance of preferred quality traits and plan their strategies accordingly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Jesuits in India have made significant contribution to studies in classical as well as modern biology. The earlier classical studies resulted in the compilation of well-known and highly appreciated floras. In recent times, Jesuits have kept pace with the current trends in biology and have made contributions in the areas of environmental awareness, biodiversity, conservation, biotechnology, molecular biology, bioremediation, and bioenergy as well as biopesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Good Shepherd Rockery is the only original iconography developed in the ivory carving tradition of Portuguese India. Despite the large production of these statuettes, the scarcity of written sources and the untracked diffusion of such artworks did not allow the clear understanding of the original purposes of this iconography. The present essay wishes to establish a comparison between the artworks' iconography and the prologue of the Onvalleancho Mallo (Garden of Shepherds) by the Jesuit Miguel de Almeida (1607–83), published in Goa in 1658. This doctrinal work presents a detailed interpretation of pastoral images which perfectly overlaps with the artworks' iconography. Almeida's work represents the best documentation for the interpretation of the iconography as it was circulating in the missionary discourse of Portuguese India. It suggests that the statuettes symbolized the eschatological role of the missionary clergy and the Catholic Church though the didactic use of pastoral allegories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how various United Nations agencies are implementing a rights-based approach to development in India. It argues that, while most studies of RBA focus on the promotion of economic, social, and cultural rights through this approach, civil and political rights are also integral to UN efforts. This is important because it suggests a new, more cooperative mode of promoting human rights as an alternative to traditional New York- and Geneva-based mechanisms. The article explains how rights are being promoted. It also lays out some strategies that UN bodies use to circumvent host state resistance to outside interference on human rights. Finally, it suggests a course for future rights promotion through these mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the long-term sustainability of the trilateral partnership established in 2003 between India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA) rests on a more conscious engagement with their regional partners. The construction of a strong regional leadership role for IBSA based on its members' strategic positions in South Asia, South America, and southern Africa is the proper common ground to legitimize a diplomatic partnership between the IBSA states. This is even more pressing as China is actively competing for markets and influence with the IBSA trio within their respective regions, particularly in Africa. The paradox, though, is that while Northern powers have welcomed the regional leadership role of IBSA's members, most of their neighbors are not convinced of the actual intentions of New Delhi, Brasilia, and Pretoria. As a result, leadership within IBSA is defined in global terms as a claim to lead the developing world. At the regional level, however, IBSAclaim for leadership is less clear, less acceptable, and therefore remains constrained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent India's multilateral strategy was designed defensively as a means to provide the country with some leeway in an intensely competitive bipolar world. Today, India casts itself as an emerging power intent on exerting the bilateral and multilateral influence that the country's founding leaders had long aspired to. Obsolete frameworks such as nonalignment and developing world leadership have mostly been jettisoned in the process. However, questions remain about India's willingness and capacity to take on global responsibilities to match its global aspirations. This article traces the evolution of India's multilateral approach and examines its multilateral stance through several prisms: the UN Security Council, the World Trade Organization, global climate change negotiations, and some emerging international groupings of states in which India plays a role. Among our conclusions is that, in India's diplomacy, much depends on domestic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes three early Mughal auto/biographical texts written at the order of Akbar as forms of instructive memory, and contextualizes these texts within an existing body of writings about akhlāq literature and literary genres. In doing so, this article discusses how auto/biographical narratives in Mughal India were both collected and collective, and how the didactic undercurrents of these texts relied upon individuated notions of character and kingship presented through the figure of Humayun. By reading lived experience across genres that often contained elements of one another, this article places interconnected Mughal lives as central to textual renderings of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article gives an overview of recent findings on the thriving cult of bone relic stūpas in contemporary Jaina culture. Although Jaina doctrine rejects the worship of material objects, fieldwork in India on the hitherto unstudied current Jaina mortuary rituals furnished clear evidence for the ubiquity of bone relic stūpas and relic veneration across the Jaina sectarian spectrum. The article discusses a representative case and assesses the significance of the overall findings for the history of religions. It also offers a new theoretical explanation of the power of relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role played by the experience of empire in the formation of British identity in the 18th century in early British India, and if this holds true for the non-British European servants of the imperial enterprise including a high proportion of Germans. The question whether these servants considered themselves as representatives of a European rather than a British enterprise is discussed. Between 1782 and 1792, the army of Hanover served East India Co. in southern India.

In order to avoid any confusion with species of Scolopendra, the genus Arthrorhabdus is reviewed. For the Old World species at least, the length of the coxosternal tooth plates is the most useful distinguishing feature. Arthrorhabdus somalus Manfredi, 1933 is transferred to Scolopendra becoming S. somala (Manfredi, 1933). A. jonesii Verhoeff, 1938 is removed from that genus as a species of uncertain status. A key to the species of Arthrorhabdus is provided. A diagnosis of Scolopendra and key to the 42 species and 7 subspecies of the Old World are provided together with an annotated list of species. Scolopendra gastroforeata Muralewič, 1913 is a junior subjective synonym of S. s. subspinipes Leach, 1815 and Scolopendra nuda (Jangi & Dass, 1980) is a junior subjective synonym of S. mirabilis (Porat, 1876). Scolopendra teretipes (Porat, 1893) is removed from synonymy under S. mirabilis (Porat, 1876) and returned to full specific status. It is suggested that S. attemsi Lewis, Minelli & Shelley, 2006, and S. jangii Khanna & Yadav 1997, may be specimens of S. morsitans L., 1758, and S. andhrensis Jangi & Dass, 1984 may be S. s. subspinipes. Scolopendra subspinipes punensis Jangi & Dass, 1984 may be an immature S. s. dehaani Brandt, 1840. The presence of S. gigantea L., 1758 in India is considered improbable. Several Scolopendra species are very similar and require further investigation; thus male S. canidens Newport, 1844 and S. cretica Attems, 1902 are indistinguishable. Scolopendra arenicola (Lawrence, 1975) and S. monticola (Lawrence, 1975) may be conspecific, S. pinguis Pocock, 1891 and S. gracillima Attems, 1898 are also very similar. The relationship between S. cingulata Latreille, 1829 and S. subspinipes cingulatoides Attems, 1938 should be examined as should S. valida balfouri Pocock, 1896 currently synonymised under S. valida. Scolopendra langi (Attems, 1928) exhibits some unusual characters and should be reassessed. Scolopendra madagascariensis Attems, 1910 is known only from a single inadequately described specimen. Also discussed is S. amazonica Bücherl, 1946 currently regarded as a junior synonym of S. morsitans, as are the characters separating S. morsitans and S. laeta Haase, 1887. Non Australian records of S. laeta may be disregarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Modern scholarly study of women in early Indian Buddhism began over a hundred years ago, towards the end of the nineteenth century. In this article, I assess strategies that have been prominent in scholarly engagement with the texts from the period that are pertinent to this debate. The article is focused around discussion of four historical-critical hermeneutic strategies which either have figured within the debate or, as is the case in the final section, are suggested as pertinent to the debate. The four strategies are: a hermeneutics of resonance; gender-construct hermeneutics; comparativist hermeneutics; and finally revisionist hermeneutics. The first three comprise strategies which have featured significantly in the debate, from its origins to changes that have arisen particularly during the last two decades. The final strategy is, essentially, my own assertion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lusotopie is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Comparison of bas relief medallions at Angkor with medallion patterns on Chinese silk and Indian cotton textiles provides compelling evidence that fabrics from these regions were actually in use in the courts of Khmer kings. They served two purposes. One was as items of opulent palace decoration; this role transferred to stone temples, homes of the gods. Second, they represented a canopy or ceiling above a sacred space. Another group, here termed “pseudomedallions,” is described and their function speculated on. While the original textiles at Angkor have long since disappeared, their representations in stone survive as a memorial to these practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues against the common view according to which the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr was a political lightweight who was dominated by his famous spouse Nūr Jahān. Beginning with a discussion of the historiographical processes which presided over the construction of such a negative image, the essay continues with a thorough re-examination of the emperor's memoirs entitled Jahāngīr Nāma. This text brings out a coherent and original political voice, in which Jahāngīr skilfully connects his identities of sovereign, naturalist, and collector. The conclusion evaluates the impact of this discourse through a brief analysis of the reaction of the Mughal political and religious elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relics of Sāriputta and Moggallāna, two of the Buddha's closest disciples, were discovered by Fred. C. Maisey and Alexander Cunningham in a stūpa at Sānchī in 1851 and were re-enshrined at the same place in November 1952. The exact whereabouts of the relics between these two dates has been uncertain, partly because both Buddhists and scholars have assumed, incorrectly, that the relics that were brought back to India had been in the possession of Mr Cunningham. The purpose of this article is to give a detailed account ot the relics of Sāriputta and Moggallāna found at Sānchī. The account is based on correspondence and notes about the relics found in archives of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and on relevant sources published by the Maha Bodhi Society. I argue that the quarrel over the relics was an important part of the revival of Buddhism from the end of the nineteenth century. I also discuss how the relics of the two saints were used by the government of India as nationalist symbols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diverse merchant groups that participated in maritime trade emanating from the various exchange centers of Kerala during this period acted within the framework of certain socioeconomic conditions that ensured a remarkable degree of continuity as far as their organizational arrangements and distribution networks were concerned. Familiarization with frequent socio-political changes in the maritime exchange centers of Kerala, which were then exposed to frequent expansionist moves of inland rulers in the initial phase and of European commercial powers in the later periods, gave a great amount of adaptability to the different mercantile groups involved in its maritime trade, capacitating them to develop multiple survival strategies. Different segments of traders, who were unified by the commonality of religion, as in the case of Muslim merchants, developed diverse but better strategies to overcome Portuguese control systems as well as to ensure continuity in trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India survived near-crisis situations twice in the 1990s. How did internal and external constraints shape that country's ability to respond to the crises? This article argues that India's success can be attributed to four sets of decisions taken during the period 1991–1997: devaluation, involvement of the IMF, partial liberalization of the domestic financial sector, and gradual opening up of the external sector. The article analyzes the options, political opposition, and eventual outcomes for each set of decisions. India's ownership of its reform program helped set the pace of reform, while close interaction between technocrats and the IMF added credibility. But the balance between entrenched traditional interest groups and the demands of new interests determined the scope of reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical evidence points to the existence of Armenians in India in small numbers at least since the sixteenth century. Beginning with the Portuguese in that century, Europeans entered the spheres of Euro-Asian and intra-Asian trade in an increasing volume. Armenian contact with India received a boost following the settlement of a large number of Armenians in New Julfa that coincided with the coming of the European companies in India. The arrival of the Europeans opened up various possibilities for the Armenians. Consequently, Armenian trade, based to a great extent on various forms of community-based network and partnership, was not 'exclusive' in nature. In their social life too Armenians formed part of the pluralistic Christian community in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The laws of corporate groups such as merchants, traders, religious specialists, soldiers, etc. are examined on the basis of both the normative Hindu legal texts and epigraphical sources from various parts of India. Other recent studies arguing that medieval India experienced an increasing integration of polity and society over larger core areas are corroborated from the perspective of law and legal institutions. Methodological and theoretical propositions are also raised to argue that Hindu legal texts, known as Dharmaśastra, are essential to any history of law and society in medieval India, but only when their nature and purpose are properly understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article situates Vishwakarma craftsmen in the socio-economic milieu of early medieval Peninsular India. It seeks to analyse the dynamics of social change among craft groups with particular reference to the smiths, masons and carpenters constituting the Vishwakarma community. This is attempted by locating the dynamics of social change within the processes of temple building and urbanism in the Chola-Pallava period. The essay looks afresh at concepts like caste, guild and community in the speci fic context of technological and economic changes and craft mobility. In so doing the article cuts across conceptual categories in the light of empirical evidence. The study is based on epigraphic evidence, essentially from the Tamil country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new species of Macrobrachium Bate, 1868, i.e., M. gurudeve, M. jayasreei, and M. kunjuramani, collected from the rivers Kabbini and Bhavani (east flowing rivers of Kerala State) are described here in detail. The most important diagnostic features of the species are: in M. gurudeve, the rostrum is broad with 7-9 upper (2 post-orbital) and 3-5 ventral teeth, characteristically arranged; telson broad, dorsal pairs of spines situated at the distal third, and inner distal pair of spines very short; 2nd cheliped with carpus shorter than chela, and fingers ¾ of palm; appendix masculina with 1 long and 4 short distal spinous setae and 13 and 4 stiff lateral setae in two rows; uropodal exopod without accessory spine. In M. jayasreei, the rostrum is very slender, with 7-8 (1 or 2 post-orbital) and 4-5 ventral teeth, maximum width of the rostrum at the level of 2nd ventral tooth, and distal ventral tooth widely separated from the remaining ones; telson slender with 2 pairs of dorsal spines at distal half, and inner distal pair very long and slender; 2nd pair of pereiopods with carpus longer than chela and fingers about half as long as palm, as well as palm longer than half carpus; appendix masculina with 6 distal, stiff spinous and 9 lateral stiff setae, uropodal exopod without accessory spines. In M. kunjuramani, rostrum broad with 7-9 (2 post-orbital) dorsal and 4-5 ventral teeth, characteristically arranged; cephalothorax shorter than rostrum; telson slender with dorsal spines situated at the distal half, and inner distal pair of spines slender; 2nd pereiopods with carpus longer than chela, fingers half as long as palm; appendix masculina with 3 distal, stiff spinous and 6 lateral stiff setae; uropodal exopod with accessory spine. The colouration of the three species is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the survival stratregies and patterns of conflict management typical in India. Political culture of India; Factors Indian ways of political survival and conflict management depend on; Elements that tie the Indian society together;

In his ethnohistory of the military labour market in eastern Hindustan, 1450-1850, Dirk Kolff is concerned as much with the qualities of the supply side of the market, that is the villages of the rural countryside, as by the demand side of what the state might need or when it might need it. He describes the towns and villages of the region as an armed society in the Mughal and early modern centuries, and implies that this martial ethos extends into the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. My suggestion is that the social, cultural, and political history of the twentieth century affirms this to be the case, generally in Gangetic north India, and speci fically so in Bhojpur and Bihar, the heart of Kolff's Hindustan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caligus planktonis Pillai, 1979, a species of sea louse reported free in the plankton off India, was found parasitic on a largescale mullet, Liza macrolepis (Smith, 1846), caught in the Strait of Taiwan. The copepod is characteristic in having (1) the genital complex longer than the cephalothoracic shield; (2) a postmaxillary process in the oral region; (3) the inner coxal seta of leg 2 born on an oblong, spinulose lobe; and (4) the 1-segmented exopod on leg 4 with an armature formula of I,III. A brief review is given on the species of Caligus reported free in the plankton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the Turkish-Israeli military and political co-operation and regional security. Impact of the termination of the Cold War on regional security; Losses or delays for Israeli military contracts, caused by the negative position of the world community with regard to the Israeli actions within the Palestinian autonomy; Characteristics of the relations between Israel and India.